


Nothing is True, Everything is Permitted

by EverAtYourSide



Series: Promptis Week 2017 [3]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Assassins Festival DLC, Because that was just basically one big Promptis date, M/M, Promptis Week, on a date, slight liberties taken with Festival DLC, super fluff at the beginning, then all aboard the angst train
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-13
Updated: 2017-09-13
Packaged: 2018-12-27 11:25:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,982
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12080106
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EverAtYourSide/pseuds/EverAtYourSide
Summary: Noctis and Prompto are beyond excited to be able to attend Lestallum's annual Assassin's Festival. Ignis asks the two boys to try to stay under the radar because of the huge bounty that the Empire has offered in return for Noct's capture. Things start off pretty normal, but they quickly take a unexpected turn and Noct and Prompto are left to deal with the consequences.Work dedicated to Day 3 of Promptis Week 2017





	Nothing is True, Everything is Permitted

**Author's Note:**

> Day 3 - ~~Late Night Talk~~ \- On a Date
> 
> I pretty much knew from the moment that I started playing the Assassins Festival DLC and by the fact that it was basically just one big Promptis date, that I wanted to write something at some point about the boys being adorable at the festival. At first, it was just going to be lots of fluff; and then I got ideas, and then the angst happened because I couldn't help myself. ;)
> 
> Enjoy!

“I can’t believe that it’s finally here!” Noctis exclaimed, unable to contain his excitement and barely able to keep still in the back seat of the Regalia as they approached the always lively city of Lestallum. Lestallum was a fun place to be during pretty much any time of the year, but it had just recently gone through a huge transformation over the past few days in preparation for the annual Assassin’s Festival. “I’ve wanted to come to this since I first started playing the games…! My dad never let me though… said it was too risky given the state of things...” The raven’s smile stilling for a quick moment before the gunner in the front seat decided to turn around in his seat, grinning broadly.

“Same here, dude.” Prompto laughed, “Cept for the whole being too risky thing.” He quickly added. “I’m sure my parents wouldn’t have cared about me coming out here considering they were barely ever around long enough to care about much of anything in the first place; but my issue was that I just didn’t have the money or methods to get myself all the way here in the first place.” The blonde replied casually, although the weight that was in those words wasn’t lost on the three-other people riding in the car. The blonde must have realized the mutual concern that flashed around the other’s faces, because after a moment of rather awkward silence Prompto added, “It’s no big deal, really…! I’m just glad that I was able to finally make it here to experience it with you guys!”

“Damn, it looks like the entire population of Lucis has shown up for this thing…” Gladio noted as the Regalia finally emerged from the tunnel and Ignis expertly maneuvered the vehicle through the heart of town and was lucky enough to be able to acquire a parking spot without too much trouble. “I still can’t wrap my mind around why you two, and everyone else that’s here, are so excited about this thing...” The shield uttered as he exited the car and groaned at the sheer amount of people that were filling the streets to celebrate whatever this was.

“Uh, because it’s awesome….?” Prompto replied, speaking as though it was the most obvious answer in the world.

“Everyone’s probably here to try and see if they can catch a glance of the legendary assassin... heck, I definitely wouldn’t pass up an opportunity myself.” The prince replied enthusiastically.

“Oh… my god, Noct…” The blonde photographer gasped slowly, “How awesome would it be if we managed to snap a pic of him??” Both boys simply stood there and gaped at each other at the prospect of such a thing happening.

“That would definitely be a once-in-a-lifetime shot…! I would pay some serious gil to see that.” The prince agreed, as a mischievous smile perched itself atop his features.

“Before you two run off,” Ignis quickly cut in before the two younger boys had a chance to separate from the group. “All I ask is that you try to avoid bringing too much attention to yourselves while you are exploring the festival,” he noted as the group started climbing the stairs leading back to the main road which ran through Lestallum. “Don’t forget that the empire has placed a considerable bounty in exchange for Noct’s capture, so I urge you to keep that in mind.”

“Don’t worry, Specs. We totally have it under control, right Prom?” Noctis asked, his building anticipation practically visible, definitely ready to run off and start exploring all the wonders the Assassin’s Festival had to offer.

“Yeah…!” Prompto nodded enthusiastically, “What could possibly go wrong?” He laughed.

“With you two? I’ll be impressed if the entire festival doesn’t go up in flames by the end of the night…” Gladio laughed loudly.

“Hey!” Both boys exclaimed in almost perfect unison.

Before either could argue any further, the four Lucians could hear a very familiar voice calling for them from somewhere across the street.

“Hey Fellas! Over here!”

The four guys looked towards where the beckoning voice had originated and saw both Holly and Cindy waving their hands, beckoning them over. The four greeted the two ladies and Holly told them all about the different events and attractions going on all over the festival. She even gave them all costumes that they would be able to wear for the duration of the festival.

Needless to say, while Ignis was not overly thrilled with their new wardrobe, he was at least a little more at ease that with the outfits, seeing as it would be much harder for Noct to paint himself as an easy target for the Empire… or for those unsavory types that hoped to make a quick gil.

Soon after parting company with Holly and Cindy, Gladio quickly wandered off somewhere by himself muttering about trying to make the best of the time here by finding someone to keep him company with, while Ignis merely reminded the two boys not to forget to meet up later that evening back at the Leville, before walking off on his own to who knew where.

“Comon Prom…!” Noctis practically shouted as he started racing off in no particular direction, “Let’s go explore!”

“C-Coming..!” The blonde stuttered as he attempted to catch up with the dark-haired prince, who was already quickly disappearing into the crowd of all the other excited festival-goers.

* * *

 

The two boys had been running around the festival for what felt like hours already and it seemed as though they had still yet to scratch the surface of all the games, events and sights that the festival had to offer.

“Don’t get me wrong… I will never get tired of Iggy’s cooking, but these skewers are so good…! I swear I could eat these for the rest of my life and still never get tired of them!” The blonde exclaimed.  “I wonder what kind of special ingredients they use to make them this tasty…?” Prompto then mumbled between sliding the small pieces of meat off the stick and blissfully stuffing his face full of the special plate of festival-inspired food that he and Noct were currently in the midst of sharing.

“I think I heard someone say that they’re some kind of delicacy from Galahd.” Noct replied, as Prompto set down the skewer that he had just finished pulling all the meat off of and quickly started on another one.

“You sure know how to treat someone, Noct…!” Prompto sung in a cheerful voice once he had finally managed to swallow the meat that he had been chewing.

“Yeah well, I don’t do it for just anyone…” The prince winked as he placed his arm on the table and rested his chin squarely on the palm of his hand, content at watching the slight red that started to color the blonde’s cheeks. “I only pull out all the stops when I have a really cute date to do it for.”

“W-What…?” The blonde spluttered as he almost choked on one of the cubes of meat that he had just started chewing on. “I-I’m… n-not- you’re definitely… much more-”

“You know, we really need to start working on that confidence issue of yours, Prom…” Noctis hummed as he placed a quick kiss on the blonde’s nose, which only seemed to make his face turn an even deeper shade of scarlet.

“Yeah well, good luck with that.” Prompto moaned as he finally managed to swallow the meat without completely choking on it.

In an attempt to lighten the mood and to pull the blonde from whatever temporary funk he had settled into, Noctis shoved his hand into his pocket and pulled out a bunch of gil to cover their bill before quickly grabbing one of the blonde’s hands and quickly dragging him off to the one sure fire way to cheer the other boy up: the chocobo races.

It didn’t take longer than a second for Prompto to go back to grinning like crazy the second he caught sight of all of the the immaculately groomed and super fluffy chocobos available for rent during the chocobo races for the festival. One of the chocobos in particular caught the photographer’s attention, and that was a very rare black chocobo that Wiz had brought with him special for the Assassin’s Festival. Noct had never been all that great at racing around on a chocobo, but unsurprisingly, Prompto had real knack and natural talent for communicating and working so effortlessly with his bird while in the midst of a crazy race. It was almost like the two had been life-long friends, despite the fact that they had met only moments earlier.

After his recent successes with the chocobos, Prompto was pretty much right back to being a literal ball of energy, running excitedly around here and there and Noct would be lying if he said he wasn’t right along there with him. Both boys were currently checking out the huge variety of prizes that were available at the prize counters scattered around the festival now that they had managed to collect a decent enough collection of medallions. Noctis was currently looking at one of the really fancy fishing lures that they had available, when he suddenly heard a loud gasp, and when he turned to face the blonde to see what was up, he could instantly see the complete awe that had struck him still.

“Hey, Noct…?” Prompto started, and it was clear that he was trying very hard to keep his voice under control despite the sheer excitement that was obviously running throughout his entire body. “I dunno if you saw it, but there’s this photo magazine at the prize counter…” At this point, any remanence of the blonde’s mask of control had faded and he was no longer able to hide his excitement. “And I need it!” he exclaimed, his eyes wide and his lip dropping into what had to be one of the most adorable pouts, the prince had ever seen. “I’m like fifteen short though… can I borrow some medals?? Pleeease???”

“Yeah, sure.” Noct smiled, nodding as he dug around for the pouch that he used to hold all of the medals he had collected thus far. It had never really been a question about whether or not he was going to buy the magazine, in fact if the blonde hadn’t suggested it, Noctis probably would have ended up buying it to give to the avid photographer anyway.

The rest of the day went on quite the same as it had been going before, with Prompto and Noctis running around the festival trying to do absolutely everything they could before they had to meet up with Iggy and Gladio at the Leville later that evening.

“Wow…” Prompto yawned as he and Noctis casually strolling together side by side, their hand intertwined tightly as they made their way back to the Leville. They had ended up staying out pretty late and both of them were ready to pass out for the rest of the night once they finally managed to make it back to their room. “I didn’t know it was possible to have this much fun in a single day… thanks, Noct!”

Noctis was simply beaming as he gently pulled the blonde closer and before they knew it they were practically nose to nose and it was but a few seconds later that the two boys closed the remaining distance between them, exchanging a few quick kisses in the process before the raven pulled away just long enough to utter a quick, “Thank _you_ , Prom. I wouldn’t have been nearly as fun with anyone else. I can’t wait to see what trouble we can get up to tomorrow.” He winked as his lips met Prompto’s once more before finally breaking apart when they realized that Iggy would scold them for staying out all night. After once again making sure they had the other’s hand in theirs, the two boys closed the remaining distance back to the hotel, ready and excited for what surprises the next day would hold for them.

* * *

 

The next morning, Noctis woke up, and at first was a little confused to find that the usual mess of blonde hair he had grown so accustomed to waking up beside wasn’t actually there. Although he was certainly missing the extra warmth from having the gunner’s warm body to cuddle up next to as he attempted to try and wake himself; the prince knew that Prompto sometimes liked to get up and go out for a brisk, morning run when the weather was particularly nice out. Not to mention with Lestallum so alive and vibrant with the festival in town, Noctis was pretty damn well convinced that given the circumstances, the blonde wouldn’t have been able to resist such an opportunity.

“Hey Specs…” Noctis mumbled, trying to rub the last remnants of sleep out of his eyes as he finally forced himself up into a sitting position on the bed. “You seen Prompto at all this morning?” he asked, hoping the advisor would be able to either confirm or deny his suspicions.

“I believe he said that he was going out for a quick run to wake himself up a bit.” Ignis looked up from the book he was currently reading over by the open sliding doors next to the balcony attached to their hotel room. “If I remember correctly, he left about an hour ago, so I can’t imagine that he will be out for much longer. I would expect that by the time you have managed to properly rouse yourself, he should be back.”

“Mmmm… yeah. Guess so.” The sleepy prince murmured, now very tempted to sink down in the bed once again and curl into the soft pillows and sheet until the blonde decided to return. After finally taking a good look around the room, illuminated by the rays of the early morning sun, Noctis noticed that Gladio also seemed to be missing in action at the moment. “So… I’m guessing Gladio is already prowling the streets, trying to snap up any girl unfortunate to fall for his super-cheesy pick-up lines, but what about you Iggy? Not feeling the hustle and bustle of the Festival today?” The raven asked curiously.

“While I have been able to enjoy the festival thus far, I also welcome having a few hours in the morning to decompress and relax before heading out for the remainder of the day.” The advisor replied and then added with a smile, “I also saw this as a good opportunity to make sure that you did not accidentally or intentionally sleep the entire day away.”

Noctis huffed indignantly at the comment, but he was honestly in such a good mood from just the sheer euphoria of actually being here at the Assassin’s Festival, that the prince decided to simply brush the comment to the side and let it go.

“In that case, I guess I might as well go take a shower…” Noctis grumbled and he managed to finally untangle himself from the bedsheets and trudge his way over to his suitcase before digging out some semi-clean looking clothes and wandering over towards the small attached bathroom. Maybe he would be lucky and Prompto would be back by the time he finished and they could go and try to find some place to have a quick bite to eat for lunch. Although… maybe they should head back to that pop-up café located near the viewing platform…? Prompto had been absolutely head over heels for those skewers they got yesterday, and if that meant Noctis being able to see that illuminating smile that he loved so much, then it would definitely be worth the extra gil.

The raven-haired prince had been more disappointed than worried when he finally walked out of the bathroom after finishing his shower and getting ready and Prompto was still no-where to be seen. Noctis only started getting legitimately worried when another hour passed and still there had been no word from the blonde; not even a text or call saying that he had been held up or that he had seen someone he knew and had lost track of time.

“Something doesn’t feel right, Specs.” Noctis worried as he continued to anxiously pace around the small hotel room. “I could see an hour, maybe even two… but three? Prom’s a good runner, but I’ve never seen him run for this long… usually he’s gone for forty-five minutes, ninety tops.” The prince reasoned thinking of all the times the blonde had slept over at Noctis’s apartment and the raven had woken up to find that the blonde had already gotten up, gone for a run, and come back before the prince himself had even managed to pry himself out of bed in the first place. “Even if he did, don’t you think it’s weird that he hasn’t tried to contact us to explain why he’s been gone for so long?”

“It does seem a bit troubling.” Ignis replied thoughtfully. “When Prompto left, he certainly made it seem as though he didn’t intend to be out for very long… but maybe he just got distracted by all of the exciting sights and sounds of the festival and lost track of time?” The cook continued to wonder aloud.

“I’m gonna try and call him again.” Noctis quickly came back, instinctively reaching for his phone and finding the familiar number without wasting another moment before dialing. Noctis’s heart flipped excitedly as the phone dialed, considering that this was further progress than he had gotten before, seeing as the last two or three times he had tried to call, it had gone straight to voicemail. There was silence for a moment as Noctis unconsciously held his breath, and then a few seconds later he heard the distinct click as the line finally connected.

“Prompto! Thank the six.” The prince nearly cried in relief. “Where the hell-”

“Well don’t you just sound absolutely dashing…?” A deep voice, that was most definitely not Prompto’s asked as he answered the blonde’s phone. At first, Noctis froze, almost completely convinced that he must have somehow dialed the wrong number; but after a quick double-check of the digits displayed on the screen, he was able to confirm that he was indeed connected to Prompto’s cellphone. The relief that had previously flooded through Noctis’s system had now been replaced by pure, bone-chilling fear that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. “Now this wouldn’t happen to be the almighty Prince Noctis of Lucis that I hear on the line?” The mysterious voice continued in a sickeningly low and pleased voice.

“Who the fuck is this, and why the hell do you have Prompto’s cellphone??” Noctis demanded angrily.

“Is that really the question you want to be asking me right now, Mr. Prince?” The man on the other line laughed as he could plainly hear the alarm rising within the young prince’s voice as the seconds ticked by.

“I swear to Shiva, I don’t care who the fuck you think you are, but know that if you’ve so much as laid a finger on him, I will not stop until I hunt you down personally and beat your ass so hard that you will be begging for death.” The Lucian prince snarled, glaring daggers as he continued to yell into the phone despite the fact that he knew the man on the other line would be none the wiser.

“Oh, not very nice, are we, little prince? Tell me, did I strike a nerve?” The man asked, completely unaffected by Noctis’s rash and furious threats. “Despite your feeble attempts to intimidate me, are you sure that you want to threaten the man who holds the fate of your precious little blonde toy in his hands?” he went on and Noctis could only imagine the look on his face as he continued. “The boy is simply unconscious at the moment, but if you do not learn to control that flaring temper of yours, I could very well see things change and I don’t think you want that weighing on your consciousness, do you, dear _Noct_?” The man finished, being sure to put particular emphasis on the nickname that Prompto always happily used along whenever the two were together and the nickname that this man had absolutely no right to use.

It made the raven positively nauseous hearing something that he usually found so much comfort from, rolling off the other man’s tongue like they were something even remotely close to friends. Had Noctis not been so desperate to find out where this man was, and ultimately where Prompto was being held, the prince was sure he would have chucked the small device as hard as he possibly could against the floor, not caring if it completely shattered into a million pieces. But he couldn’t do that. It was very likely that Prompto’s life was on the line here and Noctis couldn’t afford to allow his temper to get the blonde killed.

“What… do…. you… want...?” The infuriated and at the same time deathly-afraid prince hissed back into the phone, desperately trying to hold back the firestorm of fury that was surging and growing within him.

“Oh, it’s quite a simple matter.” The man delighted in informing the agitated raven, “I want to cash in on the massive bounty that the empire has placed on your head.” The man chuckled lightly as though he had made some silly little inside joke between the two of them. “I bet you’re just dying to know how I figured out your little secret, aren’t you?” The man teased, “Well, It really was just a matter of luck at first when I noticed you and blondie here running around the Festival yesterday. I decided to keep tabs on both of you and I’m so glad I did. I never would have guessed that I would have the chance to run across _the_ prince of Lucis. It was sickeningly obvious what this brat is to you.” The man scoffed, his mask of giddiness falling for a just a brief moment. “I knew that if I could get him, I could easily use him to get to you. As if my luck couldn’t get any better, as I was scouting out the city this morning, I noticed the boy jogging casually through town all by his lonesome. It was utter child’s play to sneak up on him and grab him; he never even saw me coming.” The man laughed, his calm and cool mask once again back in place.

“Tell me when and where and I’ll be there.” The prince instantly came back, not even hesitating. There was no way that Noctis was going to let anything happen to Prompto because of him. It was his fault that this freak, whoever he was, had attacked the unsuspecting gunner. It was his fault for not being careful enough to hide his identity like Ignis had warned him when the first arrived and now Prompto may be the one who would pay the price… but Noctis wasn’t about to let that happen if he had anything to say about it.

“Noctis you can’t-” Ignis started to argue from where he was still sitting on the bed across from the prince, after having remained silent thus far throughout the entire conversion on the phone. However, he was almost instantly silenced by an insistent and firm dismissive motion from the prince with his one free hand.

“Ah, see I was hoping that you would be smart enough to see reason.” The man on the other line hummed. A few seconds passed by and Noctis could swear that he could hear some kind of rustling going on in the background. There was the sound of some kind of muffled shouting, but no matter how hard he tried to listen to the muted gasps and pants, it was simply too distorted and Noctis couldn’t make any sense of the sudden noises. Not even a few seconds later, there was the sound of something contacting something else…? Was that the sound of something or someone being slapped or punched maybe? Directly following that, Noctis could vaguely hear a quick intake of breath and some moaning before everything went completely silent again. The raven was terrified that the line might have gone dead when it remained silent for yet another ten seconds or so before that wretched voice once again came through on the phone.

“I do apologize for the delay, _your highness_ ,” the man finally answered, making sure to draw out the last two words as though it were some sick game. “I’m afraid our guest of honor right here was trying to be a bit livelier than we need him to be and was attempting to make a bit of a fuss; but don’t worry yourself about that… we made sure to take good care of it.” The man paused for a moment before getting serious and uttering a final, “I’m going to text you a location and I expect you to be there in thirty minutes. If you are so much as thirty seconds late, you can kiss your precious boy-toy right here goodbye.” At the moment the man finished, the line clicked almost instantly and Noctis was left standing in the middle of the hotel room staring furiously at the phone in his hand, trying to figure out a way to channel the absolute fury and fire running through his veins right now, in a way that didn’t include taking it out on the small device clutched in his hands.

“FUCK!” The raven-haired youth shouted angrily and helplessly even though he knew that the other man could no longer here him. Finally, letting the arm holding his phone drop, Noctis felt as though his body was completely frozen and he could only stare hopelessly at the blank phone screen that was somehow miraculously still completely intact.

“Noct… before you do anything rash, I’m going to call Gladio.” Ignis stated plainly as he pulled out the phone from his pocket and had already started dialing. “We’ll regroup and come up with a plan-”

“We don’t have time for that!” Noctis shouted, his body suddenly springing to life as he jumped up off the bed and quickly made for the easy exit that their balcony provided them. “Who knows how long it’s going to take to find Gladio… we only have thirty minutes until that jerk does whatever he wants to Prom!”

“Noctis... I know that you want to help Prompto, but we need to take a moment and try to think this through.” Ignis warned as he reached out towards the raven, now braced his hand firmly against the other’s shoulder in an attempt to keep him from warping out the window, after which the advisor would be helpless to stop him.

“There’s no time-” The rash prince uttered impatiently before being silenced once again by the stern look he received from the older man.

“Charging into a potentially volatile situation like this without thinking is just what this man wants you to do.” Ignis tried again. “He is using Prompto as bait to flush you out, and I cannot allow you to deliver yourself to him on a silver platter, into what is almost certainly a trap.”

“Yeah, I pretty well expected that,” Noctis spat back, his patience quickly running out. Every second that he kept arguing with Ignis was another second wasted in trying to locate the missing gunner before the thirty-minute time limit expired. “I’ll think of something once I get there, I promise.” The raven’s anger now quickly melting into desperation and when the taller advisor still refused to move out of the way, he added, “You might as well just let me go because I’m going to go help Prom no matter what you say. So, you can either sit here worrying about what could happen or you can go get Gladio and back me up while I rip this fucker’s throat out.”

It was pretty clear to Ignis that the young prince would not see reason. He knew that it was a waste of precious time to keep arguing with the raven, because at this point, Ignis would never be able to win regardless of how good his reasons were. With a heavy sigh, the advisor regretfully stepped to the side to allow Noctis access to the open balcony. “Please do try your best not get captured… I don’t think I need to say this but, be careful.” The man finally gave in with a defeated sigh. “And if I call, you best pick up.”

“Will do.” The prince nodded before instantly disappearing in a shower of blue crystals, a translucent shadow of the raven all that is left in his wake.

* * *

 

“Okay, I’m here…!” The prince called when he finally arrived a mere five minutes give or take a few seconds after initially warping out of his room back at the Leville. The prince had taken absolutely no chances and sprinted as fast as he possibly could along the rooftops that littered the town, throwing in a warp strike in every moment that he could while at least have enough self-control to make sure that he didn’t accidentally go into stasis.

Even though Noctis was fairly confident that he had not expended enough magic to fall into stasis, he couldn’t help but notice that there was something odd about the way his warp strikes felt while he had been running to the destination that the bastard who had taken Prompto had texted him. There was this strange feeling of emptiness building in the pit of his stomach, and Noctis was definitely starting to notice small differences here and there, like the fact that he definitely wasn’t getting the surge of power or the length that he normally got with his warp strikes or that the flow of magic which typically surged through his entire body, seemed almost dulled…? It was definitely annoying, but he quickly pushed it to the back of his mind and made a mental note to mention it to Iggy or Gladio after he had managed to get Prompto back.

“Get your sorry ass out here you piece of shit, that way I can show you what happens when you fuck with the wrong person…!” Noctis shouted into the seemingly empty back alleyway.

“Aren’t you the quick little one?” A familiar voice suddenly broke the uneasy silence as a tall man slowly seemed to melt out of the shadows. “I was told you were fast, but I certainly didn’t expect you to get here so soon. I’m flattered that you went to such trouble to come see me.”

“Cut the shit.” Noctis hissed as he readied himself to pull all sorts of powerful weapons from the armiger to help him cave this guy’s skull in. “Where’s Prompto?”

The man merely laughed. “That’s hurtful. I go through all this trouble to arrange this little meet, and you don’t even want to spend a few minutes finally get to know each other?” The man took a few steps closer to Noctis, now only a few feet separating them. “I guess I haven’t properly introduced myself. How rude of me? Especially while in the company of royalty… please do excuse my manners.” The man’s eyes glinted with a spark of something that caused Noctis to instinctively take a step back with an almost guttural snarl. “My name is Leo, I sincerely hope there’s no hard feelings about handing you over to the empire; a man’s got to make his money where it counts, am I right?” Leo smiled as he finished.

“I won’t ask you again,” Noctis spat, not caring about anything but seeing the blonde and confirming that he was okay. “Where. Is. Prompto…!? You won’t get anything from me, until I see that he is okay.”

“Bah, it’s no fun if we can’t take our time to enjoy ourselves here…” Leo sighed, “But if you insist,” the man continued as he snapped his fingers and another man appeared from behind one of the taller buildings behind where Leo was standing.

Noctis fought to keep his breathing steady as he watched the new stranger force a very dazed looking blonde gunner to walk forward so that he was standing about ten feet or so behind Leo. The newcomer looked much stronger than the man that had been taunting Noctis through the phone and it looked as though he had secured both of Prompto’s arms tightly behind the blonde’s back with one hand; and as added security to keep the gunner under control, the man had his other arm wrapped around the blonde’s neck, as though he were ready to choke him out at the slightest provocation.

Prompto’s eyes widened in fear and panic as he finally locked his gaze upon the raven who was but a mere ten feet in front of him. He would have called out and yelled for the prince to run the second he saw him, but the men who had been holding him had had the foresight to tape his mouth shut so he could do nothing but silently plead with the prince to get as far away from here as quickly as possible.

Since being taken earlier this morning, Prompto had overheard just about all the men’s plans in regard to how they planned to capture the Lucian prince. The gunner also had the unfortunate opportunity to hear all about how they planned to turn Noctis over to the Empire for the hefty reward, but not before taking some time to have a little fun with him first. The things that those men talked about and the way they talked about Noct… it made Prompto absolutely sick to his stomach and his skin was crawling just thinking about it.

Prompto was almost certain that Noctis still hadn’t fully realized the full extent of exactly how much danger he was in right now and what exactly the tricks were that these men had up their sleeves. He had heard everything, but it wouldn’t do any good for the gunner to know what was going to happen if he couldn’t actually communicate it to the raven before it was too late.

“Prompto!” Noctis practically gasped in relief at finally being able to get visible confirmation that the gunner was still relatively okay. Luckily, Prompto looked to be mostly unhurt aside from a few painful looking bruises and some minor scrapes and burns; but what really concerned the prince was the large arm still wrapped tightly around the blonde’s thin neck. It wouldn’t take but an instant for the man holding Prompto to easily start suffocating the blonde until he passed out, or worse. “Don’t worry Prom, I’m going to make these bastards pay for what they’ve done.”

“Boy, you’re in no position to be dealing out threats here…” Leo grinned impishly as though daring the young prince to follow through on his threats.

“Oh yeah?” Noctis called back, knowing that he could probably take these men out in two seconds. “Watch me.” He uttered quickly before instantly readying to warp strike squarely through the bastard’s skull.

Noctis initiated his warp strike the way he had done a million times before, but when he actually went to phase as he channeled the crystal’s power, he felt no flow of magic run through his body as it usually did, and thus he stayed firmly planted on the ground in the same place he had been before attempting to initiate the failed warp strike.

“What the-” the prince muttered to himself at a complete and utter loss as to why at the moment when he desperately needed it, his magic seemed to have completely deserted him. While Noctis was distracted trying to figure out exactly what the hell was going on, he was suddenly caught off-guard when without any warning, he felt something hard contact with his face and the resulting force caused him to get knocked clean off his feet and collide harshly against the hard concrete below; his head smacking the pavement with a loud thwack as he felt like his head had just been cracked wide open while the world started to tilt at harsh angles.

“Well,” Leo grinned as he looked down upon form of the dark-haired boy now struggling to get his bearings back after his head had collided with the ground. “Good to know that that guy with the crimson hair was actually telling the truth about the Prince’s magic being locked away.” Leo grinned as he pulled back the arm which he had just used to punch the young prince squarely in the face. “Things could have gotten a little out of control if we had to face the brat at full power.”

Unfortunately, before Noctis had a chance to even start to collect himself, Leo made quick work to deliver a swift kick to the raven’s midsection and continued delivering blow after blow until the prince was left lying breathless on the ground, panting as he tried and failed to get up, just to be knocked back down by the larger and taller male’s continuing and relentless blows.

During the entire ordeal, Prompto could do nothing but watch Noctis continue to try and get up, only to be forced back down by either a well-placed kick, or punch to all varying parts of the body. Despite the iron-like grip that the man behind him had on his wrists and throat, the gunner absolutely refused to stand by helplessly as Noct was being beaten half to death before his very eyes.

With whatever remaining strength he could muster, the gunner struggled desperately to free himself while also screaming all kinds of obscenities and pleas to stop despite the fact that they were almost completely muffled by the tape still tightly secured over his mouth. The blonde only stopped his desperate attempts to fight against the main restraining him when said man decided to cut off his air by tightening his hold on the Prompto’s throat while now additionally covering his nose. After just a few seconds, Prompto already started feeling lightheaded and white spots started dancing across his vision.

After Leo was convinced that the young prince was no longer a threat to fight back with any kind of real force and the blonde had also be substantially subdued, Leo grabbed some heavy rope he had brought with him and got busy with binding the raven’s feet and arms so that way even if he did get some fight back in him, he would be much easier to transport back to their home base so they could still have a little bit of fun before they were eventually forced to hand the kid over to the Empire.

Leo quickly slung the half-conscious boy over his shoulder and motioned for the man who had been holding Prompto the entire time to follow him as well.

_No!_ Prompto desperately thought as he was soon forced to walk forward, trying furiously to think of some kind of plan to get both out of this mess. With Noct’s magic out of commission at the moment, and Noct himself out for the count, it was now up to him. If these guys managed to slip away with both of them, it would definitely be game over and Prompto couldn’t, _wouldn’t_ let that happen. But what could he possibly when he really wasn’t in all that much better of a position than Noct?

All of a sudden, Prompto’s attention from torn from his frenzied and frantic thoughts as he heard something that sounded almost like… something slicing through the air..? It sounded almost like a short, high pitched whistle, but Prompto had no idea where it had come from. Then, not even an instant later, Prompto witnessed Leo, who had been carrying an almost completely limp Noct, freeze and suddenly fall to the ground as he strung all kinds of loud curses together, while clutching his leg. Noct, no longer having anything supporting him, fell quickly back down on the hard ground, a low groan escaping him as he finally came to rest a mere five to ten feet from where Prompto was still standing.

After a few confused moments of looking around and trying to figure out what the hell was going on, Prompto noticed something metal, gleaming as it caught and reflected the sun’s bright rays. There was no mistaking it now… the thing sticking out of Leo’s leg was a small dagger. That could only mean…

“I apologize for the delay…” A very familiar sounding voice called from one of the nearby rooftops. “We would have been here sooner, but we wanted to make sure that we didn’t come empty-handed.” Prompto looked up and nearly cried in relief as he was able to recognize Ignis’s familiar blonde hair up above, as the advisor carefully adjusted his trademark glasses.

“Can’t leave you two alone for five seconds, without it all going to hell, can we?” The shield joked as he now walked out from behind a nearby building to block the path of the two men that had been just about to disappear within the maze of streets within Lestallum with the subdued gunner and Lucian prince.

Gladio wasted absolutely no time in advancing on Leo, who had at this point at least managed to dig the small dagger that Ignis had thrown at him, out of his leg. Despite the fact that he now had quite a bit of blood running freely down his leg, the large man was still able to put up a pretty decent fight against the even larger shield.

With all the chaos of the arrival of the other two members of the royal retinue, Prompto noticed the man who had been holding him must have gotten distracted and as such, his grip had let up just enough so that with a quick burst of energy and a well-placed elbow, the gunner was able to fight just hard enough to break the other man’s hold on him and with his arms finally free, the blonde shot his elbow once more squarely in the larger man’s chest causing him to stumble backwards slightly and released the grip he had on around the blonde’s neck. Prompto quickly took the opportunity to sprint far enough away so that the other man would not be able to reach out and try to grab him again and further complicate things for Gladio and Ignis.

Just as Prompto had managed to escape, Ignis had just finally made his way down off the building that he had appeared on top of initially and the strategist quickly placed himself in between the man and Prompto, throwing his daggers to further slow the man down.

As the shield and advisor took care of their respective opponents, Prompto quickly tore away the annoying strip of tape over his mouth and after throwing it to the ground, without wasting another second, the blonde ran quickly over to where Noctis was still lying, dazed and confused.

“Noct…!” He called as he finally dropped next to the still struggling raven, helping to undo the ropes that had been secured around his wrists and ankles. “I’m so sorry…! This is all my fault. The main streets were so crowded- and I thought… I thought that maybe I would be able to-”

“Stop-” Noctis managed to blurt as he tried to collect himself and waited for what felt like everything in his body to stop throbbing. “It’s… It’s not your fault… Prom.” Noctis mumbled as the blonde helped him to sit up against the wall right next to them. “None of this is your fault, okay?” The prince insisted, slowly starting to feel a little bit better now that he was leaning up against Prompto’s chest. “It’s my fault for rushing in without any real plan… but I… I dunno, I was just so scared… scared that I wouldn’t be able to get here before… before something happened.” He finished, frowning.

“You thought _you_ were scared _for me_?” The blonde joked. “Man, that guy Leo or whatever the hell his name was really wasn’t pull any punches… I was convinced that he was going to take you out before he even managed to get you to the Niffs…”

Noctis smiled and let out a light laugh. “Eh, he may have banged me up a bit, but it’s going to take more than some well-placed punches and kicks to get rid of me for good.”

Before Prompto could reply, the two boys were joined once again by the two other members of the retinue; now having apparently finished taking out their respective opponents. Gladio had a big old smile plastered across his face, while Ignis knelt down with a rather neutral expression as he started to check out the extent of both Prompto and Noctis’s injuries.

“Well, it doesn’t look as though there is much more here than some superficial wounds that a quick potion should clear right up.” Ignis noted as he finished his examination on both boys and proceeded to help the still slightly dazed prince to stand, while Gladio helped the skinny gunner up to his feet. “I would suggest that we head back to the Leville in the meanwhile so that you two will be able to get some well-needed rest.”

“But… what about the festival…?!” Noctis whined as he slung his arm across Prompto’s shoulders partly because he wanted to remain close to the blonde after everything that had just happened, and also partly because he still wasn’t one-hundred percent solid with the idea of standing on his own. “There’s still so much that we haven’t been able to do…”

“The festival can wait until you have had a chance to rest and recuperate a little.” Ignis replied curtly and judging by his expression, it was fairly obvious that he was not in the mood to negotiate. “The festival is scheduled to last for the remainder of the week, so I can assure you that even if you miss one day, there will still be plenty of time for both you and Prompto to explore the rest of what the festival has to offer. I only ask that this time, you try to be a bit more discreet, so that we can avoid another episode like today, thank you very much.”

“You know Noct,” Prompto piped up at the two continued their slow trek back to the Leville. “I’m pretty sure that we could totally win the prize for craziest date ever at the Assassin’s festival, don’t you? Maybe we can cash in that story for some extra medallions or something, whatdya think?” The blonde laughed lightly, squeezing the raven who was still leaning up against him for some added support in an awkward kind of one-arm half hug like thing because it was all he could really manage at the moment.

“Yeah, probably.” Noctis laughed softly. “But tomorrow, why don’t we just stick to getting medallions the way they were meant to be earned? You know… like with actual intended festival activities like the chocobo races and whack a cactuar? That way I won’t have to have a freaking heart attack every time we get separated.”

“Yeah…” Prompto laughed a bit nervously. “I would definitely be up for that.”

“It's a date, then.” Noctis smiled as he maneuvered his head so that he could lightly kiss the blonde’s cheek and the two continued walking, holding the other tightly as they made their way back to the Leville and the super soft bed that awaited them.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
> Comments are always appreciated. :)
> 
> Free to check out my blog on tumblr! [ever-at-your-side-15](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/ever-at-your-side-15)


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